• by Tricia Despres , December 29, 2005

Picture yourself searching for a parking space at the local mall while singing along with your local fm oldies station. As you walk to the door, the digital signs above the mall entrance run an ad for a new and improved anti-aging cream.

Coincidence?

Not necessarily. Smart Signs are on their way to a mall near you. Sacramento, Calif.-based Smart Sign Media is working with Simon Brand Ventures to provide outdoor digital signage to many of Simon Malls' 300 shopping centers across the United States.

Smart Sign Media provides electronic signs for displays at the Las Vegas Convention Center and New York's Times Square. Smart Sign's partnership with Simon will provide exterior signs strategically situated at major thoroughfares adjacent to the malls, specially equipped with technology that will detect fm radio signals from passing motorists. The radio signals adjust advertising messages to specific consumer demographics. The network will also enable consumers to interact with advertisers to receive promotional offers and coupons via mobile phones.

"These technologies will generate the high-impact effect that we think will clearly differentiate this medium from what is currently available in the outdoor advertising arena," explains Tom Langeland, president of Smart Sign Media.